Back Senior Technical Advisor

Senior Technical Advisor

for EpiC Myanmar

Location: Yangon, Myanmar

Report to: Epic Myanmar Project Director

FHI 360 is seeking applications for the position of Senior Technical Advisor for the Meeting Targets and Maintaining Epidemic Control (EpiC) project in Myanmar. EpiC is a five-year global project funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The project provides strategic technical assistance (TA) and direct service delivery to break through barriers to 95-95-95 by improving HIV case-finding, prevention, linkage to services, and viral load (VL) suppression among key populations (KPs) including transgender (TG) individuals. In Myanmar, EpiC will provide technical assistane to local partner organizations, including service providers and KP-led community-based organizations, in Yangon and Mandalay regions to address critical gaps and bottlenecks in the response to HIV among KPs in Myanmar. In addition to activities mentioned above, EpiC Myanmar will focus on promoting service uptake and improving access to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among KPs in Yangon, as well as enhancing HIV services for transgender individuals.

Job Description

The Senior Technical Advisor will be the technical lead for the EpiC Myanmar project. Reporting to the Project Director, the Sr. Technical Advisor will provide technical oversight for prevention, care and treatment activities, linkage to services, and community engagement activities implemented by EpiC project partners. S/he will be the lead technical expert responsible for all activities to increase uptake and improve quality of HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment services, including community service provision responsibilities related to the program, including ensuring that targets set by funders are met and reported according to PEPFAR standards. S/he will lead efforts to strengthen prevention, care and treatment with all community services, which may include strengthening capacity of implementing partner organizations, community organizations and other stakeholders to provide comprehensive KP-sensitive HIV services and operate referral network to KP friendly facilities. S/he will coordinate with Project Director to bring in new technical expertise and updated global practices. S/he will liaise with the Project Director and counterparts responsible for ensuring KP-friendly services and provide supervision to establishment of transgender-specific services. Under supervision of the Project Director, s/he will lead development and dissemination of technical guidelines, technical tools and project documentation.

Position Description:

• Provides TA and capacity building including support for the overall design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of PLHIV and KP group HIV prevention, care, and treatment activities;
• Works with implementing partners to actively monitor and proactively adjust face-to-face and virtual recruitment strategies to increase coverage, HIV testing uptake, and case-finding among KPs populations and especially highest-risk, underserved subpopulation;
• Develops models for introduction and scale-up of community-based assisted and unassisted HIV self-testing among key populations;
• Supports community-level introduction of HIV PrEP services, index testing services, community testing services and TG specific HIV prevention and care services for individuals at high-risk of infection in accordance with WHO guidance;
• Provides HIV care- and treatment-related technical and management support for CSO partners to strengthen case management services, ensure ART initiation and strengthen viral load suppression through innovative, evidence-based programming, including introduction of community-based ART models;
• Development of approaches to address the positive health dignity and prevention of KP living with HIV;
• Works with the Strategic Information team to monitor and evaluate the progress and impact of HIV interventions to track programmatic performance by KP cascade and to design and implement corrective actions where interventions and strategies do not deliver the anticipated outcomes;
• Supports the EpiC Myanmar Project Director to ensure collaboration and coordination with the Ministry of Health, National AIDS Program, USAID and other key country stakeholders by regularly meeting and consulting with all relevant agencies to share information and to stimulate joint design, evaluation and implementation of interventions;
• Remains informed on current state-of-the-art programs in the HIV/AIDS care and treatment field with focus on KP, through the review of literature and articles, and maintains links with other international bodies which specialize in KP-focused HIV treatment and care;
• If necessary, lead or participate in the process to review, revise and update national guidelines
• Coordinate preparation, review/approvals process, and submission of materials on behalf of EpiC implementing partners for presentation at academic conferences and/or publication in peer-reviewed journals;
• Develops scopes of work, project deliverables and monitoring and evaluation indicators and targets together with the Strategic Information team for grant and contract resource and service delivery partners as required;
• Develops guidance, tools and materials related to KP programming;
• Provides technical supervision for select program staff;
• Performs other duties as assigned.

  Minimum Qualifications:

  • Masters with additional education in a health related field with 5-7 years experience in HIV outreach programs, treatment programs and working with key populations.
  • Sound understanding of HIV/AIDS clinical care including anti-retroviral therapy (ART), sexually transmitted infections, Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and case management in the context of key populations including transgender people in Myanmar.
  • Sound cultural understanding and sensitivity to demands of key populations and gender and sexual diversity is necessary;
    • Familiarity with Myanmar’s public health sector including state actors, NGOs and CBOs is highly desirable;
      • Previous experience working with USAID or PEPFAR supported program and KP-led organization is desirable;
      • Demonstrated ability to be the technical specialist and as the lead subject matter expert in Prevention, Care, Treatment & Community Services
      • Demonstrated ability to perform complex data analyses and make recommendations based on findings;
      • Demonstrated ability to portray complex data sets in easy to understand formats including visualizations
      • Demonstrated working knowledge of Myanmar health and social service information systems and monitoring and evaluation processes as it relates to data collection for performance-based reporting and use of data;
      • Previous experience in capacity building of community-based organizations, stakeholder management and supervisory role is critical
      • Demonstrated written, presentation, communication and organizational skills in English. Advanced level of spoken and written Myanmar language is strongly preferred.

        The position will be based in Yangon, Myanmar and work out of the FHI 360 Country office. Preference is for Myanmar nationals.

        Suitably qualified candidates openly living with HIV and/or who are members of the key populations affected by HIV are encouraged to apply.

        This job posting summarizes the main duties of the job. It neither prescribes nor restricts the exact tasks that may be assigned to carry out these duties. This document should not be construed in any way to represent a contract of employment. Management reserves the right to review and revise this document at any time.

        FHI 360 is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer whereby we do not engage in practices that discriminate against any person employed or seeking employment based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, protected Veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law.

        Our values and commitments to safeguarding: FHI 360 is committed to preventing any type of abuse, exploitation and harassment in our work environments and programs, including sexual abuse, exploitation and harassment. FHI 360 takes steps to safeguard the welfare of everyone who engages with our organization and programs and requires that all personnel, including staff members and volunteers, share this commitment and sign our code of conduct. All offers of employment will be subject to appropriate screening checks, including reference, criminal record and terrorism finance checks. FHI 360 also participates in the Inter-Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme (MDS), facilitated by the Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response. In line with the MDS, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any substantiated findings of sexual abuse, exploitation and/or harassment during the applicant’s tenure with previous employers. By applying, job applicants confirm their understanding of these recruitment procedures and consent to these screening checks.

        FHI 360 will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws.
        
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